UAVs may be used to photograph or map an area or region. Under some circumstances, this may be achieved with a single photograph taken from a single vantage point, such that the entire area may be captured in a single photo. In many other circumstances, this may be impracticable or impossible, and it may be desired or necessary to photograph or map the large area by combining several photographs of the area. In many applications, it is necessary to know the location from which each of the several photographs is taken. Although UAVs are commonly equipped with position detection systems, such as Global Positioning System (“GPS”) equipment, these systems may have an accuracy tolerance that is unsuitable for the mapping task. To account for the accuracy tolerance in GPS, it is known to place a plurality of markers in the area to be photographed, wherein an exact location for each of the markers is known. In so doing, the marker can be identified in the image data, and the exact position of the market can be incorporated into the image set. Placing the markers, however, may be cumbersome, costly, or even dangerous. It is therefore desired to achieve satisfactory positioning system information for area mapping or photography without prepositioned positioning markers.